Is it wise to eat bananas during a period of weight loss?

A question that people frequently ask me is “Can I eat bananas while I’m on a diet?”. Bananas are relatively high in calories comparing to other fruits. An average banana (150 g / 5 ounce) gives you 124 kilocalories. That’s the reason why lots of diets recommend you to leave bananas for what they are. In my opinion, those diets are so called “crash diets”, which will let you lose weight by eating as less as possible.

I personally think it's better for you to eat a banana than e.g. chocolate, candy or crisps. A banana has many advantages for your health, whether you are on a diet or not. A banana contains different types of natural sugar; fructose, sucrose and glucose. Because bananas are also rich in fibres, your body has to work hard to burn the sugars (in other words: they have a low Glycemic Index Value). It's very unlikely that your body stores them as fat. Because the banana burns very slow, it supplies you with energy for a long period and thus helps you to improve your metabolism. If you eat a banana you won't crave quickly, so you won't grab a chocolate bar of a packet of crisps which contain the wrong sugars and no fibres!

Furthermore, bananas contain the amino acid tryptophan. This amino acid is responsible for an increase in your serotonin level (a "feelgood" hormone). Other nutrients that are rich in tryptophan are various beans, avocados and wheat products.

To conclude... bananas provide you with long-term energy and they are excellent if you feel depressed! So eat a banana once a day!

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